It’s April, which means a new club year starts at SI Peterborough. During our 2022/23 year, we enjoyed socials, events and interesting talks while raising money for our President’s Charity of the Year – Peterborough Women’s Aid.
SI Peterborough President, Rita Bali, says: “We’re delighted to have reached our fundraising goal this past club year, raising £1,000 for Peterborough Women’s Aid. These vital funds will help the charity provide life-saving services and build a future where domestic violence is not tolerated.
“A huge thank you to everyone – members and non-members alike – who have supported us over the last 12 months. We look forward to another year of raising money and awareness for invaluable causes that empower women and girls locally, nationally and internationally.”
As we look forward to what’s in store for 2023/24, we look back at what we got up to and what we proudly achieved in the last 12 months.
May-August 2022
SI Peterborough celebrated 72 years since the club was chartered in May 2022. Of course, we had to celebrate with cake, so we enjoyed a tasty afternoon tea at The Parlour at Springfields in Springfields. After missing out on our 70th anniversary (thanks, Covid), it was lovely to get together and celebrate.
We also enjoyed a talk from local man Del Singh in May. He joined one of our meetings to show us parts one and two of his short film Peterborough Magical History Tour (part 3 came out a week after our meeting). It was a night of reminiscing, with a chance to ask questions and share stories about the city’s past.
In July, we invited Peterborough Women’s Aid representatives to one of our meetings to tell us more about the charity we’d happily support for 2022/23. We then started fundraising in August with lunch at our member Janet’s house for members and guests. We were lucky with the weather to sit outside and enjoy a buffet we each contributed to. We had a raffle, too!
September-November 2022
Peterborough has an award-winning community growing project, established in 2009 and run entirely by volunteers. It’s also the home of the zero-waste shop Refill Revolution. Intrigued, our members visited Julie from Refill Revolution one evening in September for a community garden tour. We also had a show around the refill shop and a talk on what you can buy there to reduce your plastic waste. Seeing such initiatives in the city centre was interesting – and we enjoyed some tasty snacks.
We ran ‘SI Peterborough’s Summer Book Challenge’ again in 2022 to raise money for the Diamond Education Grant. So, in September, we had a get-together in our member Anne’s summer house to talk about the books we’d read over the summer. It was a lovely afternoon with tea, cake and pink gin.
In October, President Rita organised a Diwali fundraiser meal at The Banyan Tree in Peterborough. Members and guests enjoyed a tasty two-course meal and raffle.
In October and November, we attended two craft fairs – organised by local lady The Secret Seamtress – to raise money. We sold our handmade items, including chutneys, cards, Christmas decorations and more. SI Peterborough members were busy in the months leading up to the events making all these lovely items, and it was a great way to raise money and awareness of our club.
We’ll be attending The Secret Seamstress’s craft fairs again later this year. Follow us on Facebook to stay updated.
December-February 2022/23
In December, we participated in Soroptimist’s ’16 Days of Activism’ (25 Nov-10 Dec) with a social media campaign, sharing messages and images about ending violence against women and girls. We also spread the word by handing out oranges to Peterborough businesses for UN Women’s Orange The World campaign.
SI Peterborough was excited to hold a Sip & Swap event in January 2023 – the first of its kind for our club. The idea of the fundraising event was for people to find a new year bargain and help reduce the amount of waste sent to landfill. Members and guests could bring unwanted (but appreciated) gifts they’d received and swap them for something they liked more. We also enjoyed chatting with cake and fizz. It was an enjoyable afternoon, and we look forward to doing it again in January 2024.
We enjoyed two online talks in February. The first was by writer and historian Clara Barley, who told us about landowner, industrialist and prolific diarist Anne Lister (1791–1840). We loved finding out about Clara’s voyage of discovery of the life of Anne Lister, which helped her write her book The Moss House.
Behaviour change agency Social Change joined us for our second talk of the month. They told us all about their work with Cambridgeshire Constabulary to create campaigns to end violence against women and girls across Cambridgeshire and beyond. It was a thoroughly interesting talk about a campaign in our local and surrounding area.
March-April 2023
March was very busy with many events to celebrate International Women’s Day. First, we held our own event – a film night at restaurant Wildwood. We enjoyed drinks and snacks on arrival before watching the British comedy-drama film Misbehaviour. It was a fun night, and we were pleased to welcome many non-members who had heard about the event on Eventbrite.
SI Peterborough also attended three separate events run by Peterborough Trades Union Council, the charity Helping Empower Lives in Peterborough and Sangam Asian Ladies Association. We handed out leaflets and chatted to people about Soroptimism and what we do as a club. It was also great to see what else is happening in the city and to learn more about other charities and initiatives.
We also attended an indoor car boot sale in March to turn our unwanted items into charity funds! Plus, we enjoyed a talk by Lauren Kendrick from Flourish Peterborough about the work she does to help others flourish through the growth of food, community and healthy ecosystems.
From 25 March-22 April, we were delighted to be featured in Peterborough Museum‘s Community Gallery. Our exhibition, Peterborough Soroptimists: 73 Years of Women Inspiring Action, told the story of our proud history of fun, friendship and tireless fundraising and campaigning.
From where it all began to where the club is now, it showcased who we are, what we’ve achieved, and what Soroptimism is all about.
Seeing all our achievements presented in our local museum was amazing, and it was an invaluable opportunity to share who we are and what we do.
Want to stay up to date with our events? Follow us on Facebook or email us at sipeterborough@ymail.com, and we will add you to our mailing list.